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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (44083)	7/18/2001 2:48:22 PM
From: Prognosticator	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

You forgot to note that the reason Microsoft can afford so many mis-steps is their cash flow from the desktop monopoly, and their abuse of that monopoly to defend that cash flow. How long will they have this cash-flow free and clear? The recent slippery escape from Anti-trust investigation is not the final outcome. Microsoft will be reigned in, or broken up, as all monopolies (especially those who abuse) are eventually handled. P.

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (44083)	7/18/2001 3:02:10 PM
From: QwikSand	Respond to of 64865

Kevin: I agree that Microsoft has a 'relentless' culture, and and a do-whatever-it-takes management credo. "I say to hell with Janet Reno"...Ballmer couldn't have summed it up better. Got him and Big Evil Bill dragged into court and made fools of. I'm certainly not among those who predicted the death of Microsoft as the result of any of those causes you list--I had MSFT shares most of that time and made significant money on them. However, I do believe you overrate the management sociopathy and underrate a factor of far greater importance: they're an illegally-maintained monopoly. Regular real-world companies with real-world competition don't get to take all the time they want releasing klunker after klunker and still come out on top after two decades. Most companies would quickly die if they tried it. Microsoft's enduring success in the face of numerous product failures is attributable much more to monopoly than to attitude. Their monopoly cuts two ways. Like the old 'Iron Man' of Marvel Comics' early days, his iron suit makes him invulnerable and super strong, but it also keeps him alive. If the suit's battery dies, Iron Man dies. Such is Microsoft's relationship to its illegally-maintained monopoly. It keeps them alive. They are entirely dependent on it. If it dies, they die. Now, the internet and other market factors are bringing about conditions in which Microsoft will have to succeed in product spaces where they can't leverage their monopoly. They will just be another player, albeit a strong player that is used to using illegal tactics. Example: Xbox, set-top boxes, .Net. The server space, unfortunately, does still benefit from monopoly leverage. You claim their relentless attitude alone is enough to win. I claim that, outside spaces where they command monopoly leverage, it is not. We shall see. --QS